Samuel…Peeps
Even though it defies any semblance of logic, the proper pronunciation of the last name of the diarist is actually one which sounds like “peeps” rather than “pep-eze” or “pep-us” or even Pepsi which actually makes a lot more sense. At any rate, there has to be some level of irony—unintentional, one can only assume—in a gossipy diary obsessed with voyeuristic treatment of women being written by a guy whose name sounds like “Samuel peeps.”
May 23, 1660
The entry for this date is a textbook example of situational irony. The situation at hand here is the exiled King Charles II a furtive journey following his escape from Worcester. His identity remaining secretive as possible, the irony revolves around the fact that people Charles comes into contact with do not recognize him. One man bids him drink to the King’s health while pointing out that the monarch stands a good four fingers taller than he while some servants force him to drink to prove he is not a Roundhead. This is the ultimate irony, of course, since the Roundheads was a term referring to supporters of Oliver Cromwell and sworn enemies of the monarchy.
How to Make Good with Quakers
Religious sects were running wild in England at the time Pepys wrote his diary. Among the most prominent were Quakers and Anabaptists, neither of whom were exactly know for being loose and fancy with their stern commitment to Biblical devotion. Knowing this paves the way for parsing the irony in one of the diarist’s observations about the use of rhetorical devices—and when not to use them:
“And thus I believe twelve times Sir P. Howard answered him a `damn me,’ which was a fine way of rhetorique to persuade a Quaker or Anabaptist from his persuasion.”
Family Matters
Pepys was a misogynistic scoundrel who had little real affection for women as a gender and even less respect for individual representatives. He routinely cheated on his wife, and she routinely discovered his transgressions. Domestic tranquility was rarely at play in the Pepys household and is, in fact, of such rarity that he is often moved to note any presence of its arrival only as fodder for subtle irony. The irony in this case being that his family matters are definitely not in a safe condition at the time:
“Up, and at the office all morning with my heart full of joy to think in what a safe condition all my matters now stand between my wife and Deb and me.”
Dangerous Irony
The diary was not intended for public consumption. This can pretty much be affirmed by a little bit of ironic political humor that Pepys writes on July 19, 1662. The last bit here may seem inoffensive enough to you and me, but in the 1660’s one simply didn’t question the omnipotence of the monarch, even in jest as a bona fide supporter of the King:
“it raining hard upon the water, I put ashore and sheltered myself, while the King came by in his barge, going down towards the Downs to meet the Queen: the Duke being gone yesterday. But methought it lessened my esteem of a king, that he should not be able to command the rain.”
